There and back again...

Mira's last hospital stay was so short and boring that I didn't have time to post about it before she got home! Friday she was coughing pretty hard, but all of her readings were good. Saturday, however, her oxygen sats were dropping lower than is really okay, so we took another pre-planned trip to the ER (oh, is that a wonderful arrangement! We call Gillette and talk with the nurses there; they tell us if they think we should go to the ER, and if so, we tell them what time we think we'll get there, and they give the ER a heads up so there's no waiting, and no guessing - just right to work on the issue at hand.) She was not "admitted" but stayed two nights under "observation." They gave her a little bit of blow-by oxygen the first day, and upped some of her variable medications (mostly nebulized ones for opening airways) and then sent her home yesterday/Monday!

Very nice.

There's a couple from our church who love to cook (and are very good at it!) who periodically approach me with two options for dates and two or three menu options, and we settle on one and put it on the calendar usually weeks in advance. Once again, it's such a confirmation of God's care for us even in the little details. That was a crazy day - with Matt and I meeting with clients for over two hours in the morning, then Matt running Bobbi to therapy, and after returning home going right to the hospital to pick up Mira. And I knew ahead of time that dinner was totally covered.

These reminders are so good as we look ahead. I'm working on a post looking at what's coming up this year. Phew.

50 pounds

Our Master Stacker broke 50 pounds! I know I haven't posted much about Krassimir over the past year, but he keeps on growing and developing - probably his biggest skill over this past year is a marked increase in his ability to wheel himself in his wheelchair. It's still not his preferred way to get around, but it's neat to see him gaining some independence. Our hope is that as he grows older he'll be able to spend more of his free time happily in his chair instead of only on the floor.

These days, though, he's very happy scooting around the house on the floor, and one of his favorite pass-times is collecting random items he finds on the floor and stacking them up...then dragging his creations around with him as he moves from room to room.

And, for the boy who was only 22 pounds as an eight year old, and with whom we had to fight for every ounce he gained at the beginning, hitting fifty is pretty exciting.

Homework

This is a topic that is so pathetic in its inability to give any sort of real update, but hopefully it serves to prove that we're still alive around here!

Bogomila decided over Christmas break that she was ready to try out a few classes at the public high school in addition to home schooling. She had a variety of reasons for doing so, but we were very supportive of her decision. In a three-week flurry we had a meeting with the team that would be working with her, chose classes, reorganized her private therapy schedule, and then had a snow day (which ended up costing two school days) at the end of the last quarter that pushed the much-anticipated start date back by a day because they had to use what was supposed to be the first day of the new term for finals!

Yes, we live in Minnesota.

So, last Tuesday was her first day, which she describes as a nervous day. Wednesday was "boring" and Thursday appeared to be a fine day, but homework as a little overwhelming to her that night. (We're working with her teachers to find the right balance of work taking into account her language limitations, and they've been very helpful!)

She's taking three classes, starting second hour (so doesn't have to get there until 9am, which greatly helps our morning routine which already involves getting Reuben up and ready for the bus by 7:15, Krassi by 8:20, and all of Mira's morning cares, in addition to a variety of other little people), and gets done about noon. She's taking an Intro to Foods class, an ESL English class, and one that she chose because it sounded "boring, but useful" called "On Your Own," which teaches goal setting and independent living skills. At home we're still doing math, history, a variety of odds and ends, and practicing English in a variety of ways as well.

Tonight she came home with a homework assignment for her foods class.

The recipe was simple, but that meant she could do all of the reading herself, even with her still somewhat limited English reading skills, and, since a smoothie that serves four doesn't go very far around here, she also got to practice her math skills by doubling it.

She figures she can go to school tomorrow and tell her teacher that her family ate her homework. 😋